Replay value - has it increased or decreased for you this gen?

I'd say the replay value dropped a bit because while there seems to be a bigger focus on multiplayer games, and understandably so, I haven't found the multiplayer experience for me. It feels like more of the same.

When it comes to single-player experiences, I wouldn't say there are less of them but most of them don't seem quite as compelling. I've actually found the most memorable games to be those that play out like the Uncharted series. I still play Uncharted 2 more than any other game on my PS3.

I tend to sink a lot of hours into open world games but that wasn't the case with some of the more popular titles out there, such as Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption. The former was a bit too overwhelming for me. There's certainly a lot to do in the game but the story was something like 6-8 hours.

But that's just me, I guess. Not to sound picky. >_>

Last edited by Vyse; 08-27-2012 at 20:35.

Thanks to Kwes for the signature!
"As long as there are dreamers who have the courage to pursue their dreams, the world will have heroes. And as long as there is a thirst to discover the unknown, there will be new stories to tell...and new adventures to be had."

Bethesda is my mistress of replay value. Fallout 3, NV and Skyrim all got disgusting ammounts of playtime. Skyrim hasn't even run it's course yet, that game will offer me a few hundred more hours once the GOTY hits.

No other games have had much replay value, well, I still play Journey often, guiding other travelers towards ascension.

Now DUST 514 will be the god of replay value for me. I've never been into military FPS games in a BIG way but this is going to be epic and DEEPLY developed and expanded upon. I will be playing this game for years on my PS3 now and then on PS4 when it hits. No other multiplayer game has come close to what 514 does for me. Guild Wars 2 on PS3 will be another game that will get sick loads of time.

I say the replay value has dropped. I said in another thread a few days (weeks?) back that this generation hasn't provided the same jump in gameplay that we saw with the PS2 from the PSX, but rather has created much the same, even smaller, but with more money going into the grass, veins, trees, shadows, animations, and gatherings of smoke that follow behind your character when you press triangle to crop-dust.

In other words, this generation provided designers with all the potential to create larger, more impressive worlds, but saw from them instead the desire to create brighter, prettier pictures.

There have been exceptions. Infamous, especially part 2, created a world that could be traversed exponentially fast, both at ground-levels and in the air, with a character who was not only versatile, but multi-layered in his movements. Assassin's Creed did much the same. Did each game have shortcuts to achieve their effects? Yes. But they were shortcuts used to encompass a much larger ambition.

I've loved lots of games from this new batch of characters. Uncharted, Enslaved, Killzone, so on and so forth. But despite my love for a lot of new and old faces, I feel like much of what I've played has been not much more than what I had on the ps2. Even now games like Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, MGS3, Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Prince of Persia, and so on remain competitive with their PS3 counterparts. And they shouldn't. By this point I feel they should have been eclipsed, much as many PSX classics, though still venerable, were eclipsed by their PS2 successors.

So, in short: No, games have become better looking, but ultimately less satisfying, sacrificing larger, bolder visions for terse, narrative-focused (to the point of excluding fun asides) experiences. Do I think these are necessarily bad? No. But I do think it hinders the desire to want to put the disc back in, and replay the same highly-detailed chase sequence. I'd rather jump around and collect orbs.

I wouid say replay value has increased dramatically, at least for me. I am probably playing games 2 to 3 times longer than before. Reasons for this stem from trophies/achievements, making sure I get better value for my money, enjoying the games more because they have given more reasons to play through them again. Add DLC content along with multiplayer modes, I have never played games nearly as long as I do now compared to previous generations.

I wouldn't say games have lost their replay value, just as I've got older I've been able to buy more frequently so i play the same games less (if even at all). Though I've always been a player who has preferred online gaming even from the days of UT'99 so maybe it could be because of that why i don't see the issue

I think replay value has dropped, but not due to games being not as good or not on par with last generation. I think it has to do with being a gamer my whole life and being less and less impressed each gaming generation. In 2007 when I saw Uncharted I was blown away. But am I blown away by U3? Yes and no. Some of the things they pulled off were insane, but I felt like I experienced it already. Same with any other title really.

For me it is a lack of enjoyment. I get bored of games easier than last gen or the gen before it. Besides this generation suffering sequelitis, this gen brought the gem Demon's Souls which is something on par with one of may favorite games ever. At the start of this gen, I liked collecting achievements and trophies, now I just don't care. Yeah, I too liked more games from the past, but that is more of a nostalgia thing and having more time to play games.

I believe it's hard to compare replay value of today's games vs the past. Ten years from now you might all of a sudden wanna replay all the Uncharted games and think, "Holy $#@! these games were sooo good! So much better than New Naughty Dog Series Game X"

But it's just what I think. I love the games from the past, but I still think this gen is good in replay department (especially multiplayer). I'm just not as interested in gaming as I was when I was younger.

Yeah, trophy/achievement support was a big help for replay value for a lot of people. I have a 7 or 8 plats myself, and that's $#@! all compared to others on this forum who are over 100.

Lol. I only have a single platinum trophy (from LittleBigPlanet 2) but I can see how the inclusion of trophy/achievement support helps to increase replay value. People who have 100 or so tend to buy even the crappiest of games. And sometimes you need to invest a lot of time into a game's multiplayer mode to grab the last couple trophies which seems more like a chore.

Last edited by Vyse; 08-27-2012 at 21:15.

Thanks to Kwes for the signature!
"As long as there are dreamers who have the courage to pursue their dreams, the world will have heroes. And as long as there is a thirst to discover the unknown, there will be new stories to tell...and new adventures to be had."

Lol. I only have a single platinum trophy (from LittleBigPlanet 2) but I can see how the inclusion of trophy/achievement support helps to increase replay value. People who have 100 or so tend to buy even the crappiest of games. And sometimes you need to invest a lot of time into a game's multiplayer mode to grab the last couple trophies which seems more like a chore.

I am a borderline manic completionist. I LOVE having set goals or tasks to achieve, and when you get 100% it's soooo rewarding. Once I get that plat, I know I never have to go back to that game again lol. However, I decided to vent my completionist tendencies in other areas of gaming instead of trophies, but those lil $#@!ers call out to me...lol.

More replay for me because of DLC and addicting MP modes like horde mode on Gears 3 for example and monthly car packs on Forza 4, expansion on Skyrim and the list goes on and theres more to come. I love achievements and trophies too. So I'm a happy gamer.

There haven't been many games that I've wanted to replay after finishing them the first time. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (one of my favorite games of this generation), Dragon Age II, and Mass Effect 2 and 3 are the exception. Ironically, those games are all action RPGs, which is my favorite genre.

Probably around the same on a personal level. At the start of this gen I was heaps into MP but now the only MP I play is PC games with my real life friends. Last gen I played a lot of games twice because I didn't have as much money... This gen I've spent less time replaying games but more time playing new experiences.

I'd say replay value has gone up thanks to trophies and achievements, but I barely barely ever go for them

I would imagine many gamers this gen discovered more replay value, though, with the advancing of online console gaming, completionist objectives like Trophies and Achievements, and DLC. This gen really did a lot to extend the potential "life" of games for gamers...though you have to be the kind of gamer who embraces those things, which I'm not. I'm more about single player experiences, was never interested enough in gaming to pay more for DLC, and I mostly play old games anyhow. I've always been satisfied with the replay value out of any generation, though, so I'm not complaining. :]

^I don't think it can be measured on absolute terms. For instance, for every gamer who wouldn't touch a FPS with a 10-foot pole, there's another gamer who gets infinite replay value from their online component. It's likely that their viewpoints of replay value this gen would be radically different.

I finished the original Mass Effect over 14 times and what's funny is I NEVER made a different decision, I was always paragon and always romanced Liara so can't say I've felt this gen has ZERO replayability in the games I've played but when compared to the PS2 for example (Yes ok unfair due to the PS2 being the god console) this gen has sweet $#@! all. LOVED Fallout 3 and NV, LOVE the Atelier games, LOVE Infamous but so few games (Comparatively) have made me want to play them over and over so I'd say they've taken a dive, even DLC in most games barely make them upto the same level of older game. One thing this gen has done is made games into Blockbusters, personally I dislike this but there is always that new epic game that just came out... that you barely hear a word about a month later. I do wonder if this gen will really have a game that's still talked about next gen like many games last gen and generations before it are

if I am in the PS3 or 360 section I will NOT post about the competitor just to please people, if you want to know what I think about the competitor link me to a thread in the appropriate section